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Born on May 13, 1928, Eric Lawson hails from a family deeply involved with the business of ships in London. Beginning in 1795 with Fletcher and Atkinson, both wharfingers at Cottons Wharf, Southwark, the Fletchers owned the Shadwell Dock and the Union Dry Docks from the turn of the nineteenth century to the 1920's.
Arriving in Canada in 1954 and then B.C. in 1976, Eric's own involvement with ships has been in the field of historic ship preservation. After a year at the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation Analytical Laboratory, he joined the Wet Organic Material's laboratory at Parks Canada in Ottawa where he treated materials raised from sunken historic vessels, including everything from bilge pumps to cannons. While on the west coast he worked for the Canadian Conservation Institute and served for a time as the Canadian representative for the World Ship Trust.
In retirement, Eric and his wife Dorothy lived on Bowen Island overlooking Howe Sound. He died June 28, 2013 at the age of 85.
Books:
When They Sailed the World: EGERIA and the Millidge Family Ships (Ship Research Services, 2010)
An Example of Mid-Nineteenth Century New Brunswick Ship Construction (Ship Research Services, 2007)
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OBITUARY
Born in Hampshire County , England, David Eric Dillon Lawson spent his early childhood in Ceylon. The rest was the typical boyhood of an English military family. In 1945, realizing how many young men would be looking for work, he took a ticket to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and for a time managed a ranch raising tobacco and cattle. Though he would have preferred Canada, at the time they were only accepting carpenters and bricklayers. In 1954 he finally reached Canada where he worked for the CBC in Toronto for eleven years. Then, always interested in history, he worked in Black Creek Pioneer Village, the Science Centre in Toronto and set up the laboratory at Kings Landing, New Brunswick. In 1973 he received his Masters degree in the Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works, Cooperstown, New York following which he did work at the Smithsonian Institute and for Parks Canada. A Christmas trip to Victoria convinced him to transfer to the Canadian Conservation Institute and move to Vancouver. After a year’s search for more space to carry on with his wife what became Lawson Conservation Services Ltd. and Ship Research Services, Bowen Island was chosen. From here he launched a twenty five year research project on the 1858 New Brunswick ship Egeria which resulted in two books, one technical, the other historical. His research also brought him to the attention of the World Ship Trust of which he became the Canadian representative. Unexpected heart problems launched him on his last great voyage.
[BCBW 2021]
Arriving in Canada in 1954 and then B.C. in 1976, Eric's own involvement with ships has been in the field of historic ship preservation. After a year at the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation Analytical Laboratory, he joined the Wet Organic Material's laboratory at Parks Canada in Ottawa where he treated materials raised from sunken historic vessels, including everything from bilge pumps to cannons. While on the west coast he worked for the Canadian Conservation Institute and served for a time as the Canadian representative for the World Ship Trust.
In retirement, Eric and his wife Dorothy lived on Bowen Island overlooking Howe Sound. He died June 28, 2013 at the age of 85.
Books:
When They Sailed the World: EGERIA and the Millidge Family Ships (Ship Research Services, 2010)
An Example of Mid-Nineteenth Century New Brunswick Ship Construction (Ship Research Services, 2007)
*
OBITUARY
Born in Hampshire County , England, David Eric Dillon Lawson spent his early childhood in Ceylon. The rest was the typical boyhood of an English military family. In 1945, realizing how many young men would be looking for work, he took a ticket to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and for a time managed a ranch raising tobacco and cattle. Though he would have preferred Canada, at the time they were only accepting carpenters and bricklayers. In 1954 he finally reached Canada where he worked for the CBC in Toronto for eleven years. Then, always interested in history, he worked in Black Creek Pioneer Village, the Science Centre in Toronto and set up the laboratory at Kings Landing, New Brunswick. In 1973 he received his Masters degree in the Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works, Cooperstown, New York following which he did work at the Smithsonian Institute and for Parks Canada. A Christmas trip to Victoria convinced him to transfer to the Canadian Conservation Institute and move to Vancouver. After a year’s search for more space to carry on with his wife what became Lawson Conservation Services Ltd. and Ship Research Services, Bowen Island was chosen. From here he launched a twenty five year research project on the 1858 New Brunswick ship Egeria which resulted in two books, one technical, the other historical. His research also brought him to the attention of the World Ship Trust of which he became the Canadian representative. Unexpected heart problems launched him on his last great voyage.
[BCBW 2021]
